Plus-sized Women vs. Fashion Industry
Why does the fashion industry finds it fair to fight against the right of bigger woman dressing stylishly?
Did you know that 68% of women in the US consider themselves plus-size? According to Plunkett Research, as mentioned by Hilary George-Parkin for Glamour, about 68% of women wear a size 14 or plus but they do not even make to half of the total apparel spending, and they are only considered to be from 15% to 20%.
Even though the plus-size women population makes such a big part of the total, the fashion industry fails at including that big portion of women in their clothing sizes.
A reason for that is this segment lacks investment and also has a lot of stigma floating around it. Most importantly, any business goal is to be successful and to make money, so to invest in consumer research in a business segment that shows great potential of growth, would be a wonderful opportunity to achieve that goal. It would not only be a good investment, but it would also be beneficial to all the women suffering the consequences of the prejudice and stigma created by our society.
Furthermore, excluding people by not allowing them to have a good and easy shopping experience, can cause great psychological effects in girls and women, so it is a social responsibility to carry and produce clothes in a range wide enough to not exclude anyone from buying.
The plus-size segment lacks investment, and this is one of the reasons why there are few options available for people shopping plus-size.
In other words, considering the amount of people who are wearing sizes 14 and plus, there is a big investment opportunity in the business, since there is a large public who would most likely be potential clients willing to buy plus-size garments, as well as space to grow in the industry.
Marielle Terhart is a 29-year-old Edmonton photographer that advocates for plus-size women on Instagram.
She says that “I would say that after XL, so at about above a size 16, the availability of being able to shop with ease in our city is almost non-existent”.
Therefore, this is a real example of the struggle thicker women face when trying to shop for clothes. As a result, she also mentions that because of how hard it is to find clothes that fit her, she has to recur to online shopping and needs to know her exact measurements to find the right clothes, just because there are no stores near her that carry larger sizes, which makes no sense. If people are looking for it, people should be selling it.
Adam Smith would say that by the economic theory of the “Law of Supply and Demand” — supply must meet demand. Terhart also complained about the styles available at plus-size options, and according to Tamison O’Connor — writer for Business of Fashion magazine — the catalogue for bigger women has almost an aesthetics from the 80’s that is not fashionable anymore. For instance, it is really hard to find fashionable clothes like “regular” sized women do if companies are not carrying enough about the matter. It is possible, even though pretty hard, to find clothing size 22, but they are rarely aesthetically pleasing to all tastes.
Thanks to some bold women out there, this scenario is beginning to change, but they need the support from the industry and also the investment.
As stated by Kate Clark, co-founder of company Dia&Co. — a personal styling service for plus-sized women that have raised $95 million and has around 4 million users since 2015 — Nadia Boujarwah, co-founder and CEO of company Dia&Co claims that no one can convince her that retail is not to blame for the lack of inclusivity.
This is a case of success, of how a company mainly focused on plus-size women can succeed and prosper if there is enough funding and support from investors.
They got over $50 million of venture capital funding, and they continue to get more growth out of it. With the proper investment there is more than enough room to grow in this segment of the apparel industry, and that proves it. So, if the investors and the stores decide to collaborate and work together, there is no reason why this would not be a great opportunity to get a whole lot bigger chunk of the market and succeed.
As claimed by Hilary George-Parkin plus-size retail chain, Torrid, represents 600 out of 2,000 stores that carry sizes for larger women in the US and 11 Honoré, luxury online retailer has been getting tons of investments. The latter carry over 80 brands in their catalogue and are working on making them become more and more inclusive with their sizing. It certainly require investments from both parts but until now, the investments have been worth it for both parties, since the sizes 18–20 are at the top-selling in the website, which again proves how much space for growth there is, not only at regular stores but also at luxury designer stores.
The success to all the brands willing to invest in the segment is just one step ahead if they start making the proper changes to their new or already existing business, by making their sizing options broader or creating plus-size collections that are actually well taken care of, that are as stylish and good quality as the regular options available in the store.
By working together, venture capitalists and bigger retail chains will see the great opportunity it represents and will then be willing to put their money in it and make the segment a lot bigger and inclusive to all body shapes and sizes.
The investment is imperative because the consequences suffered from being plus-size in a society full of prejudice and stigma because of one’s shape or size can cause a great impact on someone’s self-esteem.
The shopping experience for someone bigger than a size 14 can be really hard.
Besides of the fact that there are very few stores that carry large sizes, the catalogue of the stores is not wide, making it almost impossible to buy fashionable garments that are trendy at the moment, and it all happens just because companies are not taking this matter seriously enough.
As mentioned by Lynne Bunch, “If a fat woman wants to be deemed by her peers as fashionable, she has to try harder than a skinny woman. To have “a look,” a fat woman must enhance her femininity to a higher degree and look extremely put together. Beyond the higher standards of appearance, a fat woman must be able to scrape together clothing from different stores because she has a smaller pool to choose from, making it harder to access fashion trends.”
By analyzing this segment from Bunch’s essay, it is possible to realize how hard it can be for women who are overweight to just go shopping for a specific garment as well as to be considered beautiful and put together, just because this type of body is not considered attractive by our society, and that is all because of the stigma people have against being a thick woman. And it does not make any sense, since such a large portion of the population in the US is overweight.
Bunch also mentions what Tracy Jenkins said:
“Fashion’s job is to exclude. Fashion is not accepting fat”.
This sentence is so real, but it also sounds so absurd, that the fashion industry — a form of art — is making people miserable instead of making women feel empowered and beautiful no matter what. Besides from that, if any business goal is to make profit and be successful, why not invest money in a segment that is lacking attention such as the plus-size.
In conclusion, investing in the apparel for plus-size woman segment is a great investment, as well as a social responsibility everyone should be aware of.
As the world evolves, and society becomes more demanding of inclusivity, brands should start to include wider size ranges in their catalogue, as well as investing in the style of their plus-size options.
Plus-size women want to have a good shopping experience, just as much as a skinny woman wants, so it is time to be inclusive and carry bigger sizes in stores.
Investors have to be paying attention to the changes in society and how much brands, who are investing in it, are making their companies grow because of it.
According to Tamison O’Connor a good mediating idea that company called Universal Fit liberty had was:
“if a customer’s size fluctuates over the course of a year, Universal Standard will replace purchases in the new size for free […] “We wanted to relieve the anxiety of that purchase decision […]””.
This company’s action is so valuable because women will feel empowered to shop again, even if they get skinnier of bigger, even if their standard size is not the actual size. Some companies have been investing in creating plus-size lines and curvy lines to support this change in the business.
Of course, there is still a lot to be done, and the support from investors and apparel chains is very important to get this segment to grow and become more powerful.
